US-China Comedy: Cross-cultural levity through laughter

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As far as US-China relations have come over the years, one thing they've always had in common - a love for comedy. One Beijing venue takes this a step further, bridging the two worlds of humor. And audiences approve, even if they only understand one language. CGTN's Mark Fontes shows us.

If laughter is the best medicine, the US-China Comedy Center has double your dose of comic relief.

"Come and check it out, haha!"

Two cultures, two styles of comedy, one entertained crowd, night in, night out.

"I've been here three times actually."

Founder Jesse Appell says it's a must have in Beijing, as it helps further blur the once well-defined line between two different worlds.

JESSE APPELL FOUNDER, US-CHINA COMEDY CENTER "We're trying to mix the Chinese and the Western styles, do them in Chinese for a Chinese audience, and do them in a way that the Western audience, when they see them will be like 'yeah that's real standup, that's real improv."

Mission accomplished. The material refrains from politics and cultural differences, and focuses on good old fashioned laughter. Most of the center's performers are bilingual, and say even if audience members are not, they'll still enjoy the content in the opposite language.

TIZIANO KIRCHNER PERFORMER, FROM ITALY "It's kind of a very chilled environment, you get to play, you get to do something maybe a lot of people don't get to do much in Beijing."

MARK FONTES BEIJING "What us reporters know as a "standup" is what you're watching right now. However what you probably already know as "standup" is one of the many comedy genres you can enjoy here, at the US-China Comedy Center."

JOSEPH LI PERFORMER "It's not just a language joke, but also we do a lot of physical jokes; improv comedy."

Improvisational skits are a big hit, both on and off the stage.

LU XINKONG AUDIENCE MEMBER "We give them random cues, we give them random words, then they can just perform them out. And then the audience can be a part of it."

YU ECHOU AUDIENCE MEMBER "Right, it feels that we are part of the show. So it's pretty good."

JESSE APPELL FOUNDER, US-CHINA COMEDY CENTER "The world is changing, it's not an unusual thing to have a foreigner be able to speak Chinese. It's not an unusual thing for a Chinese person to be able to speak English. We need to deal with kind of the deeper level problems like 'how do we make people laugh,' 'how do we tell each other stories?"

Bridging cultures with laughter. In Beijing, Mark Fontes, CGTN.